Tkb Review: 2022 Slingshot Crisis V3

Sizes Available:134×40.5, 137×41, 141×41.5, 146x43cm
Sizes Tested: 141×41.5cm

Slingshot Says:

The Crisis has a time-tested outline that delivers a dry ride and plenty of performance for your first jumps and transitions. One of our most tested shapes, the Crisis V3 is designed to help you feel the potential when your feet hit the water.

For more info visit: https://slingshotsports.com/products/crisis-v3-kiteboard

TKB Says:

When it comes to progression, the Crisis delivers with its super-efficient planing surface that gets you up and going while offering handling that is forgiving, playful and geared for freeride.

Design and Features
The Crisis features Slingshot’s Fusion Sidewall and a forgiving wood core providing a solid and durable construction that can take your worse abuses. The bottom shape relies upon a mild single concave bottom from tip to tip with a simple bottom shape with no channels. The template is softer with rails that pull in towards the nose with narrower tips. The Crisis comes with Slingshot’s 1.75 inch fins and combines a flat to medium rocker with a softer flex pattern. You get three inserts to adjust your stance width and the threaded inserts are located down the center so you can swap the heel-side edge from time to time.

Impressions
The Crisis offers up the formula for new and progressing kiteboarders that optimizes your riding time by providing easy access to planing and a fin and rail combination that supplies grip when you want it and feels casual and forgiving when you don’t. When we put the Crisis on its rail and headed upwind it locked into a solid edge that seemed to line up its single concave bottom with its rounded template for a smooth but engaged ride. The softer flex pattern and subtlety rounded tips navigate chop really well and flattens out the ride. There’s just enough rounding in the tips that we never experienced any face spray, even during extra choppy sessions. The Crisis felt really efficient through the water, which meant that we didn’t have to constantly fly the kite to maintain speed, making the ride feel incredibly casual.

When it came to carving and transitions, the fins didn’t bite that hard, which made it easy to slide the tips around for basic transitions while carves felt easy and effortless. If some boards have tons of grip, the Crisis is much more casual and forgiving and doesn’t demand a lot of input from the rider. In terms of jumping, the Crisis felt easy to launch fun-sized airs, however the softer flex and the lighter grip doesn’t seem to store as much power in the load and release for pushing the boundaries of big air. For fun-sized jumps the Crisis felt perfectly capable while its lower weight is easy on your feet and makes the board feel nimble for rotations. Landings felt soft due to the extra flex in its core which is great for all around casual freeride. Our sense is that the most advanced riders may find the Crisis too forgiving for aggressive riding, yet that won’t deter them from enjoying the plush cruisy-ness of the Crisis.

For the progressing rider and those looking for a forgiving board that is easy to plane and efficient in a wider range of conditions, the Crisis delivers comfortable performance that will keep you on the water and for plenty of sessions full of fun.

Pads and Straps
We matched our Crisis deck with Slingshot’s new Flystrap V1 binding system which focusses on bringing a minimal lightweight design that helps keep your board feeling extra light. The Flystrap features a paired down foot pad that eliminates extra material and gives your foot exactly what it needs to be comfortable. While the foot bed is narrow, it does feature some shaping to keep your foot centered with some rubber contours for traction and a toe bump that helps keep your foot locked into the binding.

While the Flystrap does a great job of eliminating weight, you still get custom fit options like strap mounts that move forward and aft in the footpad which allows you to get the strap perfectly positioned. The Strap adjustment uses a single Velcro adjustment which is easy to tune and the strap is just wide enough to provide plush and comfortable coverage over your foot. The Flystrap doesn’t have as much zonal adjustment in the strap as the quad setup that comes with the Dually V6 binding, but for those that appreciate simplicity and the weight savings, you can still get good coverage and a comfy fit with the paired down strap setup. Testers highlighted how easy it was to adjust the tension in the strap with very little fuss and noted that the footbed was comfortable and grippy.

Overall, the key selling point on the Flystrap is it’s incredibly lightweight and minimalist approach that was easily felt when carrying the board on the beach and most notably when you are riding in the water. Lighter boards equal more nimble and responsive riding and the Flystrap contributes to this by simplifying the pad system without sacrificing too much in the way of fit, comfort and performance.

Visit for more info: https://slingshotsports.com/products/fly-strap-v1-footstraps